Saturday, April 18, 2026

Private sector ‘not there yet’

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The Private Sector in Barbados and the Caribbean has progressed, but needs key reforms to improve the business environment and boost firm productivity so that long term growth can accelerate.

A series of recommendations in this regard, which is focused on the business environment, labour force skills mismatch, innovation and entrepreneurship, and access to finance, have been made in the new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Compete Caribbean publication, Are We There Yet? The Path toward Sustainable Private Sector Development.

In addition to Barbados, it focuses on Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking at the recent launch of the publication, which is supported by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and Global Affairs Canada Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Anton Edmunds, manager of the IDB’s Caribbean Department, said the study “comes at a time when the Caribbean region seeks to bolster sustainable economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic”.

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